Aspies and college admissions

Q: Hi,
I have a 16 year-old son who has Asperger's Syndrome. He is extremely high functioning and will make great college material. Although University of Chicago is one of the colleges on his list to apply, he really is interested in Cal-Tech, Pasadena. I have two questions:
1. His grades are barely 3.0 (normal for a person struggling to maneuver the HS structure), he wasn't allowed extra time for the ACT test, hasn't taken SAT, and PSAT scores haven't come in yet. How can he wow any University with his application? Any hints?
2. Do you have any hints on how he can set a schedule to get his papers done on time, hand in his assignments, follow any type of executive order without any outside assistance from parents or resource person?

I think this is great you have set ASKANASPIE up. Perhaps, in the future, my son can assist other students just as you are doing

Thanks for any reply or assistance

Trudy

A: Wow! My warm congratulations on raising an Aspie who has succeeded so well!
It must've been very trying at times, but the two of you got through it, and
now he's going to college! It's so exciting!
Wowing colleges can be darn tough, as you know. As far as I know the
universities you mention aren't going to throw away applications that have a
3.0 GPA on them. (I understand Harvard could fill each entering freshman
class with nothing but 4.0 students with perfect SAT scores if they wanted
to, but even this most selective of schools takes students with lower scores
and strong applications.) The trick in applying to colleges, as I
understand, is finding your strengths and playing to them. If your son, like
many Aspies, is into theater, see if he can't get a big role in a school
production. If he perseverates on, say, washing machines, maybe he can get a
part-time summer job at an appliance dealer, where he'd get to flaunt his
knowledge in the field. If he doesn't have such concrete interests but is
fascinated with the philosophical grounding of free inquiry (as I was --
Aspies, as you know, are weird), he can try his hand at writing a great
essay about why he's so interested in it and how it affects his thinking or
personal philosophy (colleges *love* that stuff). Regardless, the result is
a line on your application that few other students will have -- and if you
can draw the admissions people's attention to it with (again) an essay about
why this subject matters to you, then you have succeeded in distinguishing
yourself from the pile of blah applications on their desks.
Being disciplined about work is hard for a lot of Aspies, as is being
flexible and resourceful; before I went off to college my dad kept me on
task with work, while my mom came up with solutions to all sorts of personal
and logistical problems that seemed intractable to me. Having less access to
your parents, such great resources (quite above and beyond being such great
people), is bound to be hard. But it sure does force you to develop some
self-sufficiency! Possibly against your will, but it does. I've found an
appointment book tremendously helpful in organizing my work and my time.
Resourcefulness is something that develops by itself as you get to know the
lay of the land; in my third year at Chicago I finally know all the good
coffee shops on campus, where the libraries are, and where to go if I run
out of soap. There's nothing like making friends (give it time and don't
push him!) for the moral support you won't be there to provide. And if worst
comes to worst, you'd be amazed how many professors are willing to give
extensions if you write them a nice email explaining the circumstances.
Whatever college your son eventually gets into, I can almost guarantee his
experience will be sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet, and sometimes both at
the same time. But for Aspies especially, creating a safe zone, a pocket of
familiarity, will help with the worst of times. I've had a single room since
my first year here, and I'm so glad of it. (The U of C has lots of singles
for first-years if you ask them nicely; I don't know about other schools.)
It will certainly take a while to become comfortable in a place that is Not
Home; being so far away from the people and places I knew and loved
depressed the heck out of me for quite a while, even though I thought I was
ready to leave. Be prepared to talk your son through those times. But
ultimately, the best advice I can give your son is to take his time and let
college develop organically for him. He doesn't need to make friends his
first week in school, or sign up for ten extracurriculars, unless those are
things he truly wants. Not overheating is key to getting classwork done,
enjoying yourself, and still getting some sleep. And if (as may happen) once
in a while he just can't face the world and needs to take a day off lying in
his comfortable bed in his dark room, that's not the end of the world. (I've
been there.)

Congratulations again to both of you! Best of luck!
--Brian

Comments

[Lynne]

Hi,
As the mom of an 18 year old with many Asperger traits (he refused the diagnosis), we went one step further. My son had a very low GPA of 2.3 and low class rank, but high SAT scores. He applied to the honors departments at each college and university at the same time as general admission, visiting the department chairs when he toured the universities. He also decided on a major (political science)so sat in on lectures, the same day and met the heads of the political science departments. He submitted extra essays for honors, along with his general admittance, and mentioned in his essays that he had visited the campus and was interested in dual majoring, Political Science and Economics. He was offered honors placements at two excellent state universities. It also helped that he had a pretty good extra-curricular resume.